“Big data” is a term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of both structured and unstructured data. Today, big data is generated by an increasing number of entities, including devices, digital processes, etc. Big data is defined by several attributes, including increasing volume, velocity, and variety, that make it difficult for enterprises/organizations to process using traditional database and software techniques. In most cases, the volume, velocity, or variety of big data exceeds the capabilities/capacities of an organization.
The “volume” of available data is increasing due to, for example, storing of transactional data, unstructured data streaming, increasing numbers of sensors/machine enabled with data collection abilities, etc. The “velocity” or speed at which data is streamed requires the processing of the data with ever increasing speeds. Additionally, the “variety” or type of data is increasing due to the large number of different available data formats (e.g., text documents, emails, videos, audio, etc.), numeric data, etc.